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Microsoft confirms Zune HD with multi-touch

updated 08:40 pm EDT, Tue May 26, 2009

by MacNN Staff

MS Confirms Zune HD

Microsoft tonight confirmed the existence of the Zune HD, its first-ever touchscreen media player. The company readily acknowledges that the player is meant to compete against the iPod touch and will have a 3.3-inch, 480x272 OLED screen with a multi-touch interface. It earns its name through the first inclusion of a portable HD Radio tuner for digital broadcasts as well as HD video playback through a special dock. For the first time on a Zune, the HD will also use its Wi-Fi to browse the web and should come with a special version of Internet Explorer designed for touch.

Contrary to some rumors, it will be based on Windows CE rather than Windows Mobile and is heavily modified from the standard version.

To complement the player, Microsoft plans to replace the Xbox Video Marketplace with a Zune-based video service that will also be shared with the Zune HD itself. It's not certain if videos downloaded from one device will be playable on the other. The company didn't tell Electronista whether games would be involved but hinted at touchscreen-specific games and said next week's E3 event would highlight the link between Xbox Live and the Zune. One rumor has had cross-compatible
games showing on the Live Marketplace that would be playable on both platforms.

The company plans an aggressive launch and will ship the Zune HD in the fall both to North America and, for the first time, Europe. It anticipates the new player at least initially taking over from current flash players while hard drive-based players co-exist.

Microsoft's confirmation sparks significant new life into its media player efforts, which have struggled in the past year as it failed to produce a significant revision to its second-generation player and shed $100 million in revenue through declining sales. It's one of the last major media player creators to have its own touchscreen player.

I hope Apple sues Palm back to he'll from owhence they came for this multi-touch c***. Microsoft is only following suit because Palm opened the door.

As for the Zune, microsoft has no idea what they're doing. Everytime they change where you get content from. They are throwing s*** at the wall and seeing what sticks. The only thing that is interesting is an OLED display.

It sounds like it has potential. The OLED screen and HD radio already trump the current ipod touch. HD video playback also sounds interesting if it can play a 720 or 1080p video on a HDTV via HDMI. Then I would say I buy one of these over an ipod touch any day.

That being said, its not going to be released until the fall--at which point Apple could easily trump this player with their own updates.

I just don't get fanboys. Why not just pick the best product for you? Apple is not a country that requires your patriotism.

Give MS credit where it's due, there ARE some interesting aspects to this device, such as the OLED screen, HD (I'll bet they mean 720p) video playback (with the purchase of a special dock) and HD radio (which probably requires more $$ for a subscription).

I haven't seen where the Zune is offering better VALUE than the iPod, but you know, this kind of thing helps keep Apple on their toes so it's not all bad. I wouldn't be caught dead with a Zune (at least based on what I've seen so far) but I try to keep an open mind.

Give MS credit where it's due, there ARE some interesting aspects to this device, such as the OLED screen, HD (I'll bet they mean 720p) video playback (with the purchase of a special dock) and HD radio (which probably requires more $$ for a subscription).

I haven't seen where the Zune is offering better VALUE than the iPod, but you know, this kind of thing helps keep Apple on their toes so it's not all bad. I wouldn't be caught dead with a Zune (at least based on what I've seen so far) but I try to keep an open mind.

Good job, boys, you finally caught up to a year-old product. Too bad Apple will soon be releasing the next generation and you'll be hopelessly behind again.

Please just give up and spend the money where it needs to be spent: fixing your god-awful OS. I had another miserable experience troubleshooting Vista today, on a laptop that was so borked 2 weeks ago that I had to nuke it and rebuild it from scratch. And now it's hosed up again.

would have an OLED screen and yet most people are betting against Apple having an OLED screen for the new iPhone. In some ways I'd be unhappy if this were true about the iPhone not having an OLED display.

Apple could afford to do it, but I'm not going to second-guess Apple on these types of decisions. I guess Apple knows best at what is important and what isn't. My only disappointment would be because an OLED screen is a battery saver and battery life should be high on the iPhone's must-have list.

I don't care about the Zune because Microsoft is pushing the cheap concept and the Zune will likely be more expensive than most netbooks.

"There's no chance that the Zune HD is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Jobs. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion portable media players that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Microsoft might get."

"There's no chance that the Zune HD is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Jobs. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion portable media players that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Microsoft might get."

"There's no chance that the Zune HD is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Jobs. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion portable media players that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Microsoft might get."

"There's no chance that the Zune HD is going to get any significant market share. No chance," said Jobs. "It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion portable media players that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Microsoft might get."

I am open to any product that provides an alternative to the iPod Touch. In my case I am going with the Sony X-series over the Zune HD simply because the Sony has sound quality that so far Apple and MS simply have not been able to meet.

I could care less about apps. Music (and video) are all that really matters to me.

In regards to the comments about Zune not getting any market share... if this product isn't going to do well why are so many Apple fanboys going to so much trouble to attack it? Odd.

I am open to any product that provides an alternative to the iPod Touch. In my case I am going with the Sony X-series over the Zune HD simply because the Sony has sound quality that so far Apple and MS simply have not been able to meet.

I could care less about apps. Music (and video) are all that really matters to me.

In regards to the comments about Zune not getting any market share... if this product isn't going to do well why are so many Apple fanboys going to so much trouble to attack it? Odd.

Apple takes, for the most part, existing technology, and combines it with their own imagination to create a new product.

All microsoft ever does is come up with their own interpretation of a product somebody else has established a market for.Their products reflect their lack of imagination, and they catch a lot of flak because of it.Imo, they deserve most of it too.

i don't get how this keeps apple on their toes. apple doesn't seem to have a problem with designing new and good products and improving on ones they have, unlike, say, ms.

ms has crushed competition for far too long. i'm glad to see that it's not all things ms anymore. and you can thank fanboys that have been loyal to apple. you know, for things like the entire usb world, the complete change in smart phones and all the new ones coming to the market, things like that.

If they are so sure of themselves and their designs why won't they let other hardware sync with iTunes and why won't they open up their hardware and allow access to other software or, better yet, allow for direct drag and drop?

They don't allow it because they want to control everything about your experience (if it was up to Apple, you probably would have to get approval to put anything on your mac, too, but it was too late for that).

Plus, this way you have to go through them for everything, which helps put money into their pocket.

Hey, it's not too bad looking. It looks kind of Radio Shack retro, like a PC Card. The screws aren't bad either. I suppose it means that the battery is user replaceable, or maybe you can swap graphics cards or something? ;^)

I don't get why people think this thing will play HD video, when the screen only supports 272 pixels. You think it'll downsample on the fly? HAH.

OLED in the next iPhone/iPod touch would be great for battery life, which currently sucks on my iPod touch. I'm lucky to get 3 hours with wi-fi on!

Other than improved battery life, what are the advantages of OLED?________________________________

If you accuse someone of being a fanboi, doesn't that make you one, too?________________________________

WHEN is MacNN/Electronista going to fix their damn web site commenting? It's been fucked up for years!

I click to add a comment, get an error message, refresh the page and see that my comment is actually there contrary to the error! That explains people who have SIX duplicate comments.

wow. never heard THAT before. oh wait, yes i have... let's see now... something to do with micro... give me a sec...

What are you smoking? MS has never (NEVER!) been about the experience, let alone controlling the experience. They would like to, but all those PC builders you despise keep insisting they need to do things like install extra software, and change the install process/screens, and fun stuff like that.

Apple has always been about controlling the whole thing, as everyone here would argue if someone were to say "We should get clones!".

And Apple is a corporation, whose duty is to make money for its shareholders (of which I am one). In fact, there's few companies out there who isn't about 'making money'.

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